Alternate Universe Poll: The Melding

[Velox]

Vote here for your favorite Alternate Universe story; entries have been randomized. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL ENTRIES BEFORE VOTING.Voting begins now and will end on June 7th at 11:59 PM EST. Entries that do well will move on to the Alternate Universe Final Poll, which will be posted at the conclusion of the 12th round preliminary poll.

• [*]Artificial Intelligence Ackar was quietly reading when he heard a noise behind him, a light metal scrape and the unnerving whirr of mechanical joints. It was something he had grown to live with, but he still found it unsettling. He breathed in and turned to the little mechanical creature standing beside his chair. They were odd creatures, certainly. Hey had come from the metal giant that had touched down on the planet and healed their world by reuniting the three pieces of the planet. Then, its duty done, it shut down, and the parts were scrapped by the celebrating Agori. But not before they discovered the creatures. They lived in cities, working to keep the robot running. But they were mindless, it seemed; they did not speak unless asked a question, and they seemed to have no will of their own. So, they were taken from the robot and used as drones, as robotic servants. Ackar had been issued one of the species ‘Matoran’, but he didn’t much like having it around. The thing wore red armour and an odd mask, and it seemed an expert in metalwork. It repaired armour and weapons with remarkable ease. When Ackar asked its name, it had replied with a monotonic “Matoran_Vakama”. Now, as he looked at it, he found himself feeling guilty. It really DID look like some sort of child, and he felt terrible for sending it to sleep in the closet every night. It disturbed him with its blank expression and dull eyes, but it could not be helped. It was here to stay. “You, uh, finished the repairs on my armour?” Ackar asked it. It nodded, and Ackar glanced away. “… Ah. And dinner is prepared?” It responded with “System_task: ‘Prepare Dinner’ completed.” “Oh, good.” Ackar rose, and Vakama dutifully placed his book back on the shelf. The red warrior sighed and stretched his aging limbs. “All right. Thank you.” He was about to head off for the kitchen when the communicator on his table buzzed. He pressed a button on it and spoke into the receiver. “Hello, this is Ackar.” “Yeah, I know, I called your number.” It was Kiina, and she sounded peeved. “What’s wrong?” “My Toa, Helryx, that’s what! It’s REFUSING to spar with me!” “Refusing? Are you using simple words with it?” “Yes, but it’s still saying ‘Request denied’ or something like that.” It was then that Ackar heard something behind him. The softest of clicks. He spoke softly into the receiver, “Kiina, I’ll call you back. Be careful.” “What-“ He hung up the phone and turned, ready for a surprise attack. What he saw was Vakama, wielding a sword made from scrap metal. The Matoran hadfire in its eyes, and it was burning brighter than any sun. The hand wielding the blade was shaking terribly. It said, in a tone that, for once, wavered with emotion, “System_task: ‘Fight For Freedom’ in progress.” Ackar looked at the small creature, which stared back with the eyes of a frightened child. He smiled weakly. “Here’s a new system task for you, friend: go free.” The robot dropped the weapon, unbelieving. Then, without another word, it ran. Ackar watched it go, and silently wished it a safe journey. -------[*]Tahu’s Landing Tahu stood up for the first time and looked around. He was on a barren, desert island. In the distance, he could see the glowing form of a volcano. But it was odd somehow; more of an artificial shape than an actual volcano should have. Tahu knew about volcanoes; he was the Toa of Fire after all. Of course, that was about all he knew. He had just reassembled himself after his canister had landed on the beach. Before then, he had been inside it for endless ages, and his memory was mostly blank. He still had visions from a past life. There were people, smaller than him, who he assisted. There were beasts who he fought. And there were other beings, similar to him, who he worked with closely. Even the white one, who he felt a strong rivalry towards, was still his ally. They were a team. And they had a purpose. There was an evil that they had to face. The exact details were fuzzy, but they would do their best to see that it was defeated. Tahu started walking down the sand, glancing around. His first priority, then, would be to locate his teammates. He walked a few paces away from his canister, but then his foot stepped on something in the sand. He glanced down to see a Bio-mechanical part, similar to those of which he had just used to build himself. Thinking he must have missed this piece, Tahu knelt down to examine it. To his surprise, it was a hand, and Tahu had both his already accounted for. He brushed aside some of the sand, and soon realized it wasn’t just a hand. It was a full bio-mechanical skeleton. The being, whoever it had been, was smaller than Tahu, but still similarly proportioned. But he was long gone, as his biological components had died away. From his overall position, Tahu surmised that this creature had been in pain when he met his demise. Surely great evil had taken place here. Tahu continued down the beach, but his horror grew as he found more and more bodies. There had been quite a crowd on this beach when the slaughter began. There were hundreds of the small beings, and Tahu found that they all wore masks similar to his own. And then he found the larger ones. Six of them, about as tall as Tahu himself; all pass away. Tahu somehow knew that they weren’t his teammates, but still, they must have been his brothers in arms. Something had taken the lives of all the beings on the beach. Something evil had occurred here. And Tahu now knew his purpose. He would find this evil, and defeat it. Leaving the bodies on the beach behind, Tahu ventured towards the volcano. -------[*]Sidorak’s Zoo It’s more of a long hallway beneath Sidorak’s Coliseum than a zoo. But he likes to call it a zoo anyways. The exhibit is made up of a handful of the most amazing Visorak Venom mutations in all of Metru Nui. The cages they are kept in are more like power-negating cells built into the wall with thick glass for observation purposes. Beneath each cage is an inscribed plaque that states the species of the animal before it was disfigured beyond recognition. If one enters the exhibition hallway from the front of the Coliseum, the first cage on the right, holds a grand Fader Bull mutation. It stands taller than a Toa at the shoulder. Hooves have wicked claws growing from them at painful angles, and its jaw has twisted into a horrible, fanged under bite. A rhotuka launcher sits in the middle of its forehead. The hordika mutation across from the Fader Bull was once a noble Gukko bird. Now its neck, formerly elegant and serene, is cricked and molting. Its beak is misaligned gruesomely and sickly green saliva drips from its mouth that never closes. Its wings drag on the ground behind it, fully dysfunctional. It has dead eyes and a hopeless spirit. Moving on, the next exhibit on the right-hand side is a Takea shark. But the unfortunate thing has so much Venom coursing though it’s veins that it has become a land-rahi, and an ugly one at that. It has short stumps for legs, sprouting randomly from its underside. They resemble tumors more than legs. One of its eyes has migrated to the other side of its face, making it totally blind on one side. Perhaps to compensate, that side has sprouted a spinner-launcher. It’s impossible to tell how it can breathe air now, but the process looks painful regardless. Set opposite the eerie corridor now is a mutated Muaka Tiger. The hordika rahi has top fangs so long that they almost reach the floor, making it impossible for it to lie down. Two large growths on its back occasionally shiver, possibly wings waiting to sprout. Between the prospect wing buds sits a useless and warped Rhotuka Launcher. The last six exhibits are the most amazing. Not because of the pure horror of the atrocities they house, but because of what those atrocities used to be. Primal and perhaps at one point sentient, they prowl around their cells like delusional wolves that are constantly in a state of suffering. They are hunched and walk with aid of their long arms, snapping savagely at any passerby and foaming at the mouth. Bestial intelligence can occasionally be seen glinting in their eyes. Each is equipped with a fully functional Rhotuka, and many of the cages bear marks of these. Through the glass, nobody can hear them. But if the glass was not soundproof, the entire Coliseum would be filled with anguished howling and wails of the condemned creatures for eternity. Even though all six look like they could have once been from the same species, their plaques indicate differently. Each one reads a different species name. Vakama Nokama Matau Nuju Onewa Whenua -------[*]Time It was the end of the Universe as they knew it. The very fabric of reality, the Space-Time continuum, had been torn apart, massive wormholes popped in and out of existence, and Time shifted, merciful as a Piraka. Amidst this mayhem a Toa of Ice sat with a Toa of Earth, sheltered within a machine of their own making. The Toa of Ice spoke: "there is no sense in returning to the past, trying to set this straight: our Universe will still exist in this state, our act will only create an alternate universe which, undoubtedly, would have been created otherwise. There is nothing we can do that has not already been done." "I have analyzed all available data, from that pivotal point in Time, there is nothing that could have saved our Universe from the Time Collapse. If we return to steal the Vahi, take it before it can be destroyed, we can create an alternate Universe. We can save Time." "We are needed here." "Inhabitants of this Universe are doomed. Should we deny these Matoran a better fate in an alternate universe?" ----- The two Toa activated the Time Machine, checking and rechecking meters, dials, statistics. The slightest error, and they could materialize inside a mountain, instantly killing themselves, removing all hope of an ordered Universe. The machine began to vibrate as it drew power from energized protodermis, and it slipped through a gaping hole in the Fabric of Reality, taking a shortcut into the past, to that fateful point in Time... ----- A Toa of Ice stood outside a large structure, waiting to be relieved of guard duties. He didn’t wait long, for soon, a Toa of Earth approached him, took his place. Behind a gate, an identical Toa of Ice stepped out of a great Machine, moving aside for an identical Toa of Earth to emerge. “We mustn’t be seen...especially not by ourselves. A paradox is the last thing we need.” The Toa climbed over the gate, darting behind obstacles as they made their way toward the great structure. They gave themselves a wide berth as they made their way around the building, climbing the walls, through an open window. There was no Time to lose. Rushing silently through corridors, hardly daring to breathe, they found themselves in front of the door. The door behind which the Mask of Time rested; innocent, yet guilty, of the end of Time as we know it. The Toa of Earth heard his past self outside of the building, yelling, he remembered doing the exact thing. Soon, the malicious individual would arrive. They grabbed the Vahi, dashing out the door. The Toa of Stone heard himself rushing up the stairs, remembered chasing a thief, just before Time was torn apart. The Toa launched themselves out of the window, sprinting madly toward the Time Machine. The Toa of Earth stumbled, fell to the ground, the Vahi cracked beneath him. Then the realization struck him: he was the thief, it was he who had caused the end of Time. Could he undo his actions, save Reality? Nearby plants started to wilt as Time took a blow; the Toa gathered up the fragments the Vahi, sprinting the last few meters to the Time Machine, locking themselves inside, powering on, isolating themselves from Reality, and not a moment too soon. The Vahi let out a blast of energy, strong enough to cripple Reality, yet affecting no more than two brave Toa and a Time Machine, cut off from the Universe, from Reality. Time, the brutal dictator, would live to govern another day. ------[*]Mindscape The Toa have failed us, and we can no longer trust them. What scattered few survived the Death of Mata Nui and the resulting chaos now live in the crumbling ruins of Metru Nui. “Our Great Hero,” the one destined to awaken Mata Nui lies on the shores, stoned to death the moment he arrived on the island, the Kanohi Ignika still in his grasp. I guess some might say that we need their help, because Matoran have started disappearing. I have no reason to fear, because I know exactly where they’re going. Years ago, when the Matoran’s protodermis supplies began running low, the old Onu-Le-Koro Highway was expanded in a desparate attempt to scavenge any last remnant of the life blood of our civilization. What we found was much more shocking. At first, it was simply a spot we could not penetrate, but as the tunnels webbed over and around, soon eyes, mouth, and nose took shape. A few brave Onu-Matoran ventured inside a small hatch, and discovered the massive robot was the being we called Mata Nui. They also discovered a large, rotating sphere that must have once glowed with the energy of the Great Spirit. Upon a touch, the Matoran was sucked away into another world. Mindscape. A virtual world inside our Great Spirit full of infinite possibilities, the place I was going today. The only way to get there was to get around a barricade into the lost tunnel, and into a dismal room filled with the limp bodies of Matoran who entered earlier. With a simple touch, my Kanohi dissolved into Matoran symbols, and a deep voice I could imagine was Mata Nui announced “Now entering Mindscape: Name: Therikh; Element: Iron. The Matoran symbols vanished, revealing a dark street criss-crossed with lit panels through my visor. My mask had changed slightly, and my body had become black with glowing rust-red lines representing my element. Then I knew everything had changed. It was then that a Le-Matoran startled me as he crashed into me. “Go back!” He repeatedly shouted. “It isn’t safe here; it isn’t the utopia you’d…uh!” A blast of shadow hit him from behind, suffocating him as he collapsed. A being stepped out from the same alley and almost pitifully gazed on the now dead Matoran. The body had collapsed into more symbols, and the being casually kicked aside the mask. “Pardon me, but I thought as ruler of this place, I would formally welcome you to Mindscape. You’ll be here for a long, long time.” The voice sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until his lights on his body lit up that I recognized him. The lights seemed to suck away from the dim panels, darkening this world further, and then his Kraakan lit up. “Makuta…” I gasped. His large grin confirmed my statement, and I immediately began running, expecting to be blasted down any moment, but Teridax just shouted “The Matoran are building a statue in honor of me; I would be very offended if you didn’t join!” I somehow knew it would be very bad if he was offended. --<>-- Eventually, I knew I had to stop running when I came to the aforementioned statue. Lightstones were just being added by the skilled Po-Matoran when a cloaked figure caught up to me. He quietly bid me follow him, and soon we found a small hut on the outskirts of the large city. My mysterious greeter took off his hood to reveal the Le-Matoran Teridax had killed. In a hurry, he quickly handed me a Toa stone and a new destiny to kill Teridax… ------[*]The Fatal Forests Glatorian stalked through the undergrowth, weapons ready. On this sort of battlefield, it was only the most vigilant warriors that survived. Under the canopy of verdure there was low light penetration and guerilla warriors reigned supreme. About 100,000 years ago, the Shattering had split Spherus Magna into three major components. As everyone knew, nearly all Glatorian and Agori had ended up on the forest moon of Bota Magna. At first, things began to settle down as the villages realized what destruction they’d wrought with the Core War. Unfortunately, the foolish Skrall race had shown up, rampaging through the jungle and trying to claim an empire. It was like they thought they were still fighting on the Black Spike Mountains. War in a jungle was an entirely different matter. Rather than finding an empire, they found their forces veritably butchered by the Jungle Tribe. Claiming they’d adverted a crisis that would have been disastrous for all Tribes, the Jungle Tribe then took to rewarding themselves for their heroic actions by enslaving the entire Skrall race. This led to controversy. The Fire Tribe violently argued against the moral implications of enslaving defeated enemies and the Ice Tribe backed them, but for less ethical and more practical reasons: they thought the Jungle Tribe was plenty strong enough, already being in their element and the most populous Tribe. Shortly thereafter, the Water Tribe promised to ally with the Jungle Tribe. They had seen how easily the Jungle Tribe had annihilated the Skrall invaders and wanted to avoid confrontation with the Tribe that had done that. Bota Magna was hostile. Biomechanical dinosaurs ran rampant and lethally toxic creatures lurked in the shadows. But it had one redeeming quality that made war tantalizingly feasible: endless resources. Had this been Bara Magna down below, perhaps arenas would have been set up to avoid the massive resource expenditures of war, but Bota Magna was a jungle and resources were available everywhere one looked. Inevitably, the Tribes of Bota Magna reverted… and waged war once again. Biomechanical dinosaurs were trained and then sent out into large engagements as unstoppable powerhouses that devastated anything in their way. Villages were rooted out and razed to the ground. The jungle was lit ablaze time and time again by armies trying to drive back their enemies. Again and again the plants of the jungle burned and grew back in an incessant cycle of war-fueled ecological succession. Amidst this chaos, the Kanohi Ignika made its descent and the being known as Mata Nui rose from the crater. Around him were the charred remains of a dense jungle. Acrid smoke lazily drifted through the air and embers glowed. This was recent. “What happened here?” pondered Mata Nui. As an answer, a knife rose to his neck. Knowing his life was on the line, he made no attempt to move. “What’re you? A spy?” interrogated his unseen assailant. “No tribal marking that I can see… and your armor isn’t one of the tribal colors. Who are you?” “My name… is Mata Nui. I come from… very far away. And I have no idea what is going on here. Please show mercy.” What was once the ruler of a universe was now begging for mercy at the hands of a raw recruit on an alien planet. “I’m Gresh; you’re prisoner of the Jungle Tribe.” Gresh bound Mata Nui’s wrists with vine. Mata Nui would eventually realize saving his home would require ending a war. Impossible, they’d say… but no less impossible than overthrowing the Skrall Empire would be for another Mata Nui in an alternate universe.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Velox

[Ballom Nom Nom]

Glad the poll is fixed. However, every entry seems to have an extra indent added, which the stories did not have in the previous topic.Anyway, as I said in the first topic, I choose number one.~B~

[Click]

I really liked mine, but I had already made my decision, and the second choice made it a lot harder to choose between 1 and 6. I guess six, but it's really hard to choose!!

[Aderia]

I voted 1, but they all were A+.

[fishers64]

1, 3, and 6 really stood out to me. I voted for 6, because everyone else seemed to vote for 1.

[Excelsior]

I voted for 6. I'd give a more extensive review of the entries, but unfortunately I don't have time right now.At least I voted, which I didn't do in time for most the Flight polls or the Amor Omnia Vincit ones. But I think those are the first polls I've missed this contest.May the best story win.-Excelsior

[Velox]

I voted for #2, but there were a lot of good entries here that I had trouble choosing between them.And polling period over; poll closed.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Velox